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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24444292">Someone Who Should Know Better</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EachPeachPearPlum/pseuds/EachPeachPearPlum'>EachPeachPearPlum</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad Matchmaking, Exasperated James "Rhodey" Rhodes, F/M, Fluff and Humor, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is done with this shit, Matchmaking, Online Dating, Post-Iron Man 2, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is Not Helping, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:29:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24444292</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EachPeachPearPlum/pseuds/EachPeachPearPlum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Tony is ridiculously, blissfully happy to be with Pepper – like, even when he’s complaining about her expecting him to put the toilet seat down and not leave his dirty clothes lying on the floor, he’s still beaming like an absolute idiot – and Rhodey’s not going to argue that that isn’t a good thing, of course he isn’t, but he’s also doing that obnoxious thing where he wants to make sure Rhodey is just as happy as he is. Again, this would be fine, except, like every other recently paired off person ever, Tony is convinced that the only way Rhodey could possibly be happy is if he’s in a relationship.</em><br/> </p><p>Or: Rhodey is happy Tony's happy, but that doesn't mean he's okay with the persistent matchmaking.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Rhodey" Rhodes &amp; Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Peach’s TSB 2020 works, Rhodey_apprecationweek2020/05, Tony Stark Bingo 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Someone Who Should Know Better</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you to Fighting_for_Creativity for providing me with this idea and for encouraging me to write it. Love you x</p><p>Title from Florence + the Machine's <em>Dog Days Are Over</em> because it felt like a <em>Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back</em> kind of fic but that doesn't actually make a whole lot of sense either.</p><p>This is for 1) the prompt "Tony perspective" for <a href="https://rhodeyappreciationweek.tumblr.com/">Rhodey appreciation week</a> over on tumblr and for the following square on my TSB card:</p><p>Title: Someone Who Should Know Better<br/>Collaborator Name: eachpeachpearplum<br/>Card Number: 3027<br/>Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24444292<br/>Square Filled: R4 - dating app<br/>Ship/Main Pairing: Rhodey &amp; Tony, background Tony/Pepper<br/>Rating: T<br/>Major Tags: Fluff and humour, Tony is a good bro, Rhodey is so done with this shit<br/>Summary: Rhodey is happy Tony's happy, but that doesn't mean he's okay with the persistent matchmaking.<br/>Word Count: 855</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony and Pepper have been together for four months now, and Rhodey has, quite frankly, had enough of it. Yes, Tony is happier than he’s been in all the years Rhodey has known him. Yes, he’s eating at least one proper meal every single day, and often two or three. Yes, he’s sleeping in his actual bed six nights out of seven, and Rhodey is no longer worried that Tony’s going to catch something incurable or make him an uncle long before either of them is ready for that responsibility. Yes, Tony goes to some of his meetings and makes an effort to actually keep his company solvent.</p><p>Rhodey can acknowledge that there are a great many positives to his best friend suddenly being in a mostly stable relationship with a very stable woman, but there is also one horrendously huge negative.</p><p>Tony is ridiculously, blissfully happy to be with Pepper – like, even when he’s complaining about her expecting him to put the toilet seat down and not leave his dirty clothes lying on the floor, he’s still beaming like an absolute idiot – and Rhodey’s not going to argue that that isn’t a good thing, of course he isn’t, but he’s also doing that obnoxious thing where he wants to make sure Rhodey is just as happy as he is. Again, this would be fine, except, like every other recently paired off person ever, Tony is convinced that the only way Rhodey could possibly be happy is if he’s in a relationship.</p><p>If his best friend was anyone else, this is where Rhodey would find himself going on a couple of awkward blind dates with some of Pepper’s friends before the matchmaker got bored and moved on to trying to make someone else happy.</p><p>Since his best friend is actually Tony Never-Back-Down Never-Give-Up Never-Let-Anyone-Else-Be-Anything-Close-To-Right-If-It-Means-He-Must-Be-Wrong Stark, and that means the godawful blind dates are just the start of it.</p><p>He’s barely logged into his top-secret, eyes-only, how-do-you-even-know-this-email-address-exists-Tony email account before he’s dialling Tony’s number.</p><p>“No,” he says, the second JARVIS connects his call. “Tony, no.”</p><p>“Tony yes,” the asshole answers; Rhodey knows better than to video call him, because Tony has no concept of when it’s <em>really not appropriate to answer a video call</em>, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t absolutely aware of the grin Tony is wearing right now. “Is it the <em>Match.com</em>?”</p><p>“And <em>eHarmony</em>,” Rhodey answers, scrolling down the long list of emails welcoming him to <em>every dating site in existence</em>. “And <em>Tinder</em>, and <em>OkCupid</em>, and <em>Plenty of Fish</em>, and – damn it, Tony, <em>JDate</em>? You do know I’m not Jewish, right?”</p><p>“You don’t have to be to sign up,” Tony argues, because that is <em>obviously </em>going to solve Rhodey’s main objection here. “Unless you have a problem with dating someone who is, but, frankly, I thought better of you than that. All these years of friendship, and it’s only now that I learn you’re-”</p><p>“I don’t give a damn what religion someone is and you know it!” Rhodey interrupts. “Tony, please, I love you, and I’m glad you’re happy, but I’m not looking for a relationship and you need to stop finding me one.”</p><p>Tony is silent for a few seconds, just long enough that Rhodey knows he’s about to launch into yet another very long argument about why Rhodey shouldn’t be single, and he really doesn’t want to hear it. He’s tired, he now has to unsubscribe from what seems to be every single dating site in the US, and he’s pretty sure he’s going to get called in by the higher ups and reamed out for inappropriate use of military resources thanks to this stunt, which is why he cuts in before Tony gets any further than, “But-”</p><p>“Please, Tony,” he says. “Just let it go, for me, please.”</p><p>In the time it takes Tony to reply, his email pings no fewer than three times with messages from potential matches, and it’s a sign of how important Tony is to him that he doesn’t just hang up now and be done with it.</p><p>“You’re still coming to my birthday party, though, right?” Tony asks, his voice wavering just enough for Rhodey to know it’s a real question. His daft anxieties are coming out to play again, that absurd conviction that one wrong step is all it’s going to take for the people he loves to quit on him, and the only way Rhodey (and Pepper, and Happy, and anyone else they allow to befriend Tony in the future) can convince him it’s not going to happen is by sticking around.</p><p>“You can count on it,” he promises. “After all the hoops I had to jump through to get leave, there’s no way I’m going to miss it.”</p><p>Tony’s sigh of relief is small, but still definitely there. “Good,” he says, voice brimming with enthusiasm all over again. “You remember Natalie, the not-a-PA? She says she’s got a friend who you’re going to absolutely adore.”</p><p>Rhodey loves Tony, and he really is glad he and Pepper are happy together, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to cry just a little bit.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on tumblr at <a href="https://dreaminglypeach.tumblr.com/">dreaminglypeach</a>. I love new friends!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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